Third Chamber of the Supreme Court – Judgment No. 2249/2024, dated April 8 [ECLI:ES:TS:2024:2249]- Supports the appeal filed by a mixed economic company – Subject to Law No. 19/2013, of December 9, on Transparency, Access to Public Information and Good Governance (LTAIBG) for participation in public entities with a share capital of more than 50% – Against the ruling of the Administrative Chamber of Appeal For the controversy of the Supreme Court of Justice of Castile and León which confirmed the decision of the Transparency Commission of Castile and León supporting the claim of an individual who requested a digital copy of sections 620 to 629 of the general ledger of the entity’s accounts, corresponding to the years 2015 to 2017.
The question of cassation interest that arises is whether the accounting secret protected under Article 32.1 of the Commercial Code constitutes a limit to the right of access to accounting information for a mixed economy enterprise providing services in competition and without public financing.
The Supreme Court responded in the affirmative, concluding that the appellant company was protected by the right to accounting secrecy provided protectively in Article 32 of the Commercial Code, and that in addition, in this case the maximum right of access applied. Set forth in Article 14.1 h) LTAIBG, which states that this right may be limited where access to information would constitute harm to the economic and commercial interests of the entity.
The appellant company is not required to prove the specific harm of preventing access to information when it is confidential and has competitive value, as is the case in this case in which the requested accounting information refers to sensitive data revealing the company’s commercial and economic strategy and operation.
On the other hand, with regard to the information request submitted by the individual, the Chamber considers it to be too broad and general – the entire contents of sections 620 to 629 of the accounting ledger – without specifying or defining the individual accounting entries or economic measures to which the request refers, and without the public interest or Higher private that justifies limiting access.
The Supreme Court concluded that for the continuity of the information claim, the specifications and details of the required accounting data are necessary and from this request a counterweight is made to the interests involved, which cannot be implemented. It is implemented by publicly claiming an entire class of economic operations, general ledger accounting data that indicate the fundamental economic conditions of a company’s operation in the market.
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